C&C on a couple of images, please

[MorningStarNicole]

#1 Butterfly on flower
The sunlight was pretty harsh.

#2 Girl on wall
My least fav of the 4, I think. I don't think I got the post processing just right and I can't decide if the exposure is off just a bit. Also would've been better with green grass behind her instead of dead brown grass, but I couldn't help that ;-) What do you think of the composition?

#3 Swimming boy

#4 Flower with pond background

Any comments, good or bad are welcome! I love constructive criticism but also like to hear what you like about the photos. Thanks!

 

[The_Traveler]

Although I looked at these I won't respond.
You said a couple, but you have four completely different pictures - too many to get c/c that is meaningful.
Post one, maybe two.
Say why you took them and what you think is good and bad, then everything you hear will be new to you.

 

[Scoody]

Completely off topic but, Traveler did you take your username from a character in a late 80's suspense novel about a serial killer being tracked down by a photographer?

 

[Virtuosos]

#4 should be a closer zoom/20 steps closer to the flower...since the background is blurry, the flower offers very little for a main item. A larger flower offers more details and more focus for the photo.

 

[MorningStarNicole]

Although I looked at these I won't respond.
You said a couple, but you have four completely different pictures - too many to get c/c that is meaningful.
Post one, maybe two.
Say why you took them and what you think is good and bad, then everything you hear will be new to you.

OK, so would you have me post two separate posts with two pictures in each? Sorry, I was trying to keep from cluttering up the board. And I suppose I should've said "a few" instead of "a couple."

 

[MorningStarNicole]

#4 should be a closer zoom/20 steps closer to the flower...since the background is blurry, the flower offers very little for a main item. A larger flower offers more details and more focus for the photo.

Thanks. I wanted to get in a little closer but it was growing up the side of a steep dropoff and I couldn't get to it. Do you think cropping would help? I know the detail on the flower won't be as good.

 

[The_Traveler]

Although I looked at these I won't respond.
You said a couple, but you have four completely different pictures - too many to get c/c that is meaningful.
Post one, maybe two.
Say why you took them and what you think is good and bad, then everything you hear will be new to you.

OK, so would you have me post two separate posts with two pictures in each? Sorry, I was trying to keep from cluttering up the board. And I suppose I should've said "a few" instead of "a couple."

If you post several, people will always pick one to concentrate on and the discussion will be scattered amongst the four - so you lose out.
The best way is to post a single picture, and tell us all you can about what you were trying to do, why it succeeds and why it fails.
It shows how much you are interested and how much you know so it guides the responses.

No one cares how many threads you start as long as you work at it so will the responders.
The more effort you put in, the better the response will be.

Lew

 

[BekahAura]

My thoughts:

#1: This is my favorite of the bunch. Great capture, nice composition, good bokeh. You're right the sunlight is a bit harsh, you could fix that easily if you carried around a diffuser.

#2: It looks like she is looking at another photographer... saying cheese! You need fill light in this one. She is dark because the sunlight was behind her. A reflector or flash would have made it look much better. Try to get the image right in camera and you won't have to worry so much about if you got your post processing right. As for the composition, it's good: you gave her looking space and didn't put her dead center.

#3: Nothing really strikes me as good or bad in this one. No comment lol.

#4: I really like this photo... perhaps it would be nicer close up as someone already suggested. But personally I like the background and that you can see it's a pond back there. I don't know, I might be the only one.

Keep shooting!

 

[MorningStarNicole]

Although I looked at these I won't respond.
You said a couple, but you have four completely different pictures - too many to get c/c that is meaningful.
Post one, maybe two.
Say why you took them and what you think is good and bad, then everything you hear will be new to you.

OK, so would you have me post two separate posts with two pictures in each? Sorry, I was trying to keep from cluttering up the board. And I suppose I should've said "a few" instead of "a couple."

If you post several, people will always pick one to concentrate on and the discussion will be scattered amongst the four - so you lose out.
The best way is to post a single picture, and tell us all you can about what you were trying to do, why it succeeds and why it fails.
It shows how much you are interested and how much you know so it guides the responses.

No one cares how many threads you start as long as you work at it so will the responders.
The more effort you put in, the better the response will be.

Lew

OK, thank you. Honestly, I took your first reply as you being a little bit picky but I see now what you're saying, that I'll get more detailed and therefore better feedback if I concentrate on one picture at a time. I've only just started posting here, so I'm still learning the ins and outs of how things work around here, and I was just trying to get some feedback on a few of my favorite shots at one time. Thanks again!

 

[MorningStarNicole]

My thoughts:

#4: I really like this photo... perhaps it would be nicer close up as someone already suggested. But personally I like the background and that you can see it's a pond back there. I don't know, I might be the only one.

Thanks! I originally wanted to get in closer but wasn't able to, and I actually really like it the way it is

 

[KmH]

My thoughts:

#1: ..... Great capture, nice composition, good bokeh....

No doubt the shot has shallow DOF, but shallow DOF, or a blurred background, is not bokeh. Actually the bokeh looks pretty poor.

The quality of the bokeh has a lot to do with the number and shape of the lens aperture blades. You can only improve bokeh by getting a different lens. I wonder what lens was used to make #1?

There are 2 kinds of bokeh:
1. Cream Cheese
2. Hollywood

#1 is an example of poor cream cheese bokeh.

 

[MorningStarNicole]

I wonder what lens was used to make #1?

I was using the kit lens that came with my Nikon D-40, the 18-55mm. I'm really hoping for the 50mm 1.8G for my birthday

 

[KmH]

The 18-55 lens is pretty good for a kit lens. It has 7 aperture blades. The new AF-S 50 mm f/1.8G is also of kit lens quality and also has just 7 aperture blades, though the optics are a little bit better, the DOF and the not very smooth bokeh will be pretty much the same as you are getting now.

An issue you'll run into with the 50 mm f/1.8G is DOF so shallow at wide apertures you'll have difficulty getting everything in focus, you want to be in focus. Plus most prime lenses are somewhat soft wide open and need to be stopped down a couiple of stops to reach their full focus sharpness potential.

 

[BekahAura]

My thoughts:

#1: ..... Great capture, nice composition, good bokeh....

No doubt the shot has shallow DOF, but shallow DOF, or a blurred background, is not bokeh. Actually the bokeh looks pretty poor.

The quality of the bokeh has a lot to do with the number and shape of the lens aperture blades. You can only improve bokeh by getting a different lens. I wonder what lens was used to make #1?

There are 2 kinds of bokeh:
1. Cream Cheese
2. Hollywood

#1 is an example of poor cream cheese bokeh.

Thank you Keith... if you didn't correct me I might make an ass out of myself twice

The first time I ever heard of the term bokeh... was here... so I just used the context clues and figured it just meant shallow DoF.

Well I like the shallow DoF =)